Why Are Learning Analytics So Important?

The best edtech software relies on learning analytics to help personalize teaching methods and tailor instruction to meet each student’s individual strengths and weaknesses, learning disabilities, and prior subject knowledge.

Without a personalized touch, educators would otherwise stick to the traditional model of teaching and tailor instruction not to the individual, but to a mass classroom filled with supposedly homogenous mental make-ups.

Thankfully, educators and policy makers have caught on and realized the importance of personalized attention. Everyone’s brain processes information differently and with the help of learning analytics, the model of education is gradually moving away from the unrealistic institution and towards every individual student.

Learning Analytics Defined

Learning analytics is the measurement and dissection of data about learners used to optimize their learning experience.

As a student uses an educational software system or walks through an online problem set, data mining technology tracks their every move, translates these movements into raw data, and stores it away for further analysis. Some artificial intelligence-based software systems even explain, analyze, and interpret data themselves. Otherwise, the data is analyzed for patterns and used to create a teaching strategy personalized to the individual student’s strengths, weaknesses, and learning preferences.

It sounds like the teaching methods of tomorrow, and in many ways, it is. The benefits of using learning analytics are astounding, and we’re breaking down our top four.

Focus on the Individual

In a classroom setting, it’s hard to recognize and subsequently attend to a student’s individual weakness. With learning analytics, these deficiencies are identified immediately. Once an area of weakness is identified, edtech software is programmed to begin rewiring instruction to address that need.

For instance, the software may provide links to outside resources that specialize on the topic, or, if their learning style responds well to visual and auditory stimulation, instructional videos will appear.

Predicts Performance

Learning analytics can predict whether or not a student will pass an online course and, more generally, how they’ll perform in the remainder of the course. If they pass, analytics can predict in which areas they’ll still need additional support.

The ability to predict performance means that every minute is designed to help students reach their educational end goals promptly.

Cost Effective

In the same vein, with learning analytics, every minute a student spends with an edtech program is valuable.

Stop wasting time with textbooks that don’t work or methods that don’t help a particular student who learns at a different pace. Figure out what is working and what will work for students before wasting time and money on resources. Learning analytics isn’t a trial run – it’s the solution for every student regardless of their specific needs or prior knowledge.

Increased Retention Rate

Speaking short term, students are less likely to fail an online course or an in-person course supplemented with online tutoring programs because learning analytics serve to improve current learning difficulties and predict future failures.

Long term, according to recent studies, every encouraging educational feat improves the likelihood that students stay in school, pursue higher education, and feel confident in their ability to solve real world problems.

As we progress through a world inundated with technology, edtech will continue using learning analytics to understand the behavior of learners and adapt teaching methods to everyone’s unique mental configuration.

With the help of learning analytics, every action educators take will move towards helping students achieve their learning goals and objectives. With the help of learning analytics, our community will learn to celebrate and progress higher through the educational whirlwind that fuels our tomorrow.

3 comments

[…] “Why Are Learning Analytics So Important?” – The Tech Edvocate Thankfully, educators and policy makers have caught on and realized the importance of personalized attention. Everyone’s brain processes information differently and with the help of learning analytics, the model of education is gradually moving away from the unrealistic institution and towards every individual student. Continue Reading […]

[…] Imagine keeping track of each student’s digital footprint, class attendance, and individual needs. Essentially, this is what learning analytics does. Learning analytics is defined as the measurement and dissection of data about learners used to optimize their learning experience. […]

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Since technology is not going anywhere and does more good than harm, adapting is the best course of action. That is where The Tech Edvocate comes in. We plan to cover the P-20 EdTech sector and provide our readers with the latest news and opinion on the subject. From time to time, I will invite other voices to weigh in on important issues in EdTech. We hope to provide a well-rounded, multi-faceted look at the past, present, the future of EdTech in the US and internationally.

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